janisj

I would follow jamikins initial plan instead -- just the one night in London and head to Paris the next morning. Stay in Paris through the 30th.

Then I'd make a slight change . . . I'd fly from CDG to to Cardiff on FlyBe on Jul 1. stay one night in Cardiff - visit the Dr Who experience, the Castle etc. Then train to London for the rest of your time.

BigRuss

<<Th 7 July - London to Cardiff, Doctor Who Experience, transit back to London Heathrow via National Express>>

Thinking there's an express train from Cardiff to Paddington (just checked, there is - takes about 2 hours, way quicker than a bus) and if you stay near the bear, you can catch the H'ex or Heathrow Connect (esp. if you're going out of T2 or T3).

ant3x7

janisj, that is a brilliant idea! That definitely saves me a lot of time rather than routing myself through London. I'm definitely going with this plan.

ant3x7

So I'm back to looking at storing my suitcase for at least the first week of my trip. My reasoning is that I want to travel to Paris with just a light backpack of clothes so that I can start strolling around immediately when I arrive at Paris Gare du Nord. Safestore at Paddington looks fairly close to the Paddington tube station and is quoted at £10.88/wk for a small locker. Meanwhile, I'll be taking janisj's advice and flying from Paris to Cardiff via Flybe which carries a €38.00 large hold luggage fee if I were to bring my suitcase with me. Additionally, the flight from Paris to Cardiff is at night at 19:40, so that gives me almost another full day of exploring Paris so it would be nice to have the freedom of not having to lug around my suitcase or going back for it. I hope that's sound reasoning.

I'm really liking the Paris-Cardiff flight as it really cleans up my itinerary, and I'm really liking how everything is shaping out. Thanks again to everyone for their truly helpful suggestions!

janisj

OK -- just how much other stuff are you thinking of taking? Up thread you said you need a large bag to carry <i>beer</i> back home. I'm a big beer drinker - like dark/chewy beers, none of this yellow lager stuff. And I never once have considered schlepping beer home with me. (good beer should be on tap anyway)

For a two week trip you should easily be able to fit everything you need into a rollaboard or back pack.

>>so that I can start strolling around immediately when I arrive at Paris Gare du Nord.<<

Take a small bag (for the entire trip), when you get to Gare du Nord, go to your hotel and drop your bag (they will hold it for you if your room isn't yet ready), head out. Keep things simple - I wouldn't complicate things w/ storing extra luggage.

ant3x7

Ok, I probably won't be bringing much beer back with me, maybe a bottle or two of something we definitely don't get in the US. But I said beer mainly because that's the one thing you can't pack in a carry on bag. But I'd imagine I'd be buying things to take home that I'd want to store in a suitcase rather than a backpack, or at least have the option to. I am still entertaining the idea of going suitcase-less as you suggest but I think I still want a suitcase to bring things back. I can definitely fill up a suitcase full of souvenirs, snacks and other trinkets.

KyraS

Why not pack a small-to-reasonable sized bag, backpack, suitcase, rollaboard, whatever, and include an empty, folded up tote or duffel bag? Then when you return home to Hawaii, check the bigger bag with the dirty laundry and the beer (I would double Ziploc baggie the beer) and carry on the smaller bag with your carry on stuff, important items, chocolate, et cetera.

That's what we do when we travel. We brought home olive oil from Spain and always bring home books from the UK. (Yes, I know all about Amazon.co.uk and the Internet, I still like to shop for books in person.)

That way you only take one bag, but you have an extra one to fill with stuff. Problem solved!

You can also mail stuff home, you know. Well, maybe not beer. We shipped a box home from Paris (books again), they have flat rate shipping boxes just like we do.

janisj

If I fill up a suitcase w/ souvenirs . . . my little 21 in rollaboard . . .

It flies over maybe 3/4 full, then if I go on a buying spree, I use the expansion zipper, cram it full and check it on the flight home. That gives me more than 50% more space if needed.

I wouldn't faff about w/ extra back packs, or extra/stored suitcases, or extra anything really. If you buy something really large/bulky, either have the merchant ship it, or buy a cheap suitcase in London and check it on the return flight.

ant3x7

Ok, both very good suggestions! I think I'm good with my luggage situation; I'll keep it simple.

PalenQ

I'm also willing to drop Bath in favor of a daytrip to Cardiff and concentrating on just London and Paris this trip>

Ah Bath will be more memorable to you perhaps than anything done with another day in say London - drop one of those perhaps - Bath, being to me the most gorgeous city in England. and the train Bath to Cardiff goes thru a lovely swatch of rural Wales.

PalenQ

If traveling on trains much pack light - lots of steps, including often a big two to get into the train though more and more trains have platform level entry doors.

suze

<So I'm back to looking at storing my suitcase for at least the first week of my trip.>

This is an unnecessary complication. Wait & see... and IF you end up buying so much extra stuff, you can purchase a cheap gym bag along the way.

Use that for the extra things you bought, sorting them out so anything fragile (but not liquid) flies home with you as carry-on. Use dirty clothes to pack whatever else into your backpack and check it thru for the plane ride home.

Another way to make room in your suitcase is go to a post office, purchase a box, and ship home dirty clothes or anything you aren't currently using but that you want to keep.

ant3x7

<Ah Bath will be more memorable to you perhaps than anything done with another day in say London - drop one of those perhaps - Bath, being to me the most gorgeous city in England. and the train Bath to Cardiff goes thru a lovely swatch of rural Wales.>

Thanks, Bath is back on the list! I'll start doing my research into it and fitting it in after Cardiff on the way back to London.

For reference to those who may stumble on this forum as I did during my research (I find this to be waaaaay more helpful than any commercial travel sites that may have an agenda to sell you something), here is what I've got from my research on Cardiff:

Doctor Who Experience opens at 10am and takes around 90 mins to 2 hours to fully enjoy.

From there, it's recommended to take the water taxi to from Cardiff Bay to Bute Park, which is right next to Cardiff City Centre and Cardiff Castle.

Cardiff Market for lunch, or at least a walk through.

Cardiff National Museum is free and is recognizable from quite a few Doctor Who episodes as well as Sherlock ("The Blind Banker").

There are 5 dragon statues around the city, one of which is on top of the roof at Cardiff City Hall. They are said to protect the city.

Sun sets around 9:30-ish in July.

melodyesch

I agree with everyone else about packing light and carrying your luggage with you. My DH and I carry a 21 inch rolling suitcase each, plus a small backpack. I imagine it would be much easier to drop your luggage off at your hotel than to leave it locked up. Plus, if you buy stuff in Paris while your main bag is in London, you're back to having to buy something to store it in until you get back there.

My DH is 6'6 and I am, well, not a smaller person and yet we do just fine with a smaller bit of luggage. You just have to plan ahead. And my DH ALWAYS brings back a bottle of scotch with no problem.

Enjoy your trip! I'm glad to see Bath is back on the list. We regretted spending so little time there. It really is beautiful.

PalenQ

I'm only 6' but find the 2nd class in Eurostar trains very cramped for my legs - 6-6 may want to look for a discounted first class ticket where there is much more room. Thalys seems better in 2nd class for folks with long legs. British trains I find very cramped in 2nd class too - try to get an aisle seat for the man.

ant3x7

As an update to things, my trip plans are coming along smoothly and things are starting to fall in place! I've booked a few of my travel arrangements as well as accommodations. I still need to finalize my London accommodations so I'll be concentrating on that for the next night or two.

Bath has jumped on and off my list so many times, I've lost count. As of right now, it's... off. The last advice someone gave me was to concentrate on London as he says it'll "knock my socks off." So I'm assuming I need to spend more of my time there to buy more socks.

But there's still time for me to add Bath back in. I'm planning on devoting the better part of Friday to researching anything and everything about Bath and deciding then.

One thing that I've been looking for is medieval town/village to visit, in or around London. It could also be a stop-over from Cardiff to London.

Some of the criterias I'm looking at are:

* Timber frame buildings
* Cobblestone roads
* Small shoppes/boutiques kind of feel
* Ideally rail transport from/to London

I researched into Cambridge and it sounds like it might fit the bill. Any other suggestions?

janisj

Cambridge doesn't fit at all -- it would have to be a day trip from London and you already have limited time there. Plus it isn't a small town/village.

Now, if you add Bath back in you could take one of these two MadMax tours. Both include Lacock which fills the bill. Mad Max is a very good company.

http://www.madmaxtours.co.uk/tours/s...-full-day-tour

http://www.madmaxtours.co.uk/tours/a...k-village-tour

I'd do the second one myself.

ant3x7

Thanks, janis.

Right now, my itinerary looks like:

8 full days in London
3 full days in Paris
1 full day in Cardiff

The second one sounds fantastic. I loved the movie Stardust! I'll have to re-watch the movie and take note of the village.

However, I'm not particular fond of tour groups. I tend to go at a different pace than others, some things I like to go faster while some things I like to slow down, sit there and soak everything in, I can never remember any of the facts they say as interesting as they might be, and I like to wander away from the group to explore out on my own.

I was looking at a day trip from London but not booking anything until I get there and seeing how things go. I've nailed down my plans for the first 5 days of my trip; the last 7 in London is still pretty fluid. I plan on fully concentrating on this part of my trip once I finalize a few things from the Paris portion of my itinerary.

janisj

Mad Max is good -- they use small vans -- not humongous tour buses.

>>and I like to wander away from the group to explore out on my own.<<

There is time for that on any of their tours except probably the Stonehenge one. I'm not trying to talk you into it -- just to give you more to work with.

The problem w/ medieval villages -- they tend not to have train stations

Other than Cambridge - maybe do a day trip from London to Oxford instead. Lots of old bldgs/colleges just like Cambridge, but you could also take a local bus from Oxford to Woodstock.

Or you could do a day trip to Canterbury maybe.

ant3x7

Ah, good point about the medieval villages.

Thanks. I'll add Oxford and Canterbury to my 'to research' list.

Perhaps a rental car for a day? I've driven in Japan for many years so I have no qualms about international driving on wrong side of the road in the wrong side of the car, I mean left side of the road, right-handed vehicles.